YU YU HAKUSHO 2 Season 2
by Sycondrin
Summary: Yukasa thought fighting demons was hard, but after a few weeks of training with his dad he realized just how wrong he was. In the midst of training Bayton comes to the compound to deliver a message from Koenma, "Stay out of Tartarus". Problem is Yukasa hadn't gone there. But of course Yusuke thinks it's time his son took the journey and investigate. Up:M/F
1. Chapter 1

YU YU HAKUSHO 2 SEASON 2: This Princess Does Her Own Rescuing

Bayton looked down at her spirit detective charge and sighed. He just looked so sad. He was essentially in the fetal position on the floor just inside the door way and he looked entirely exhausted. Sweat was streaming down the side of his face, he had bags under his eyes, and he'd gotten more muscle. The reason the last part was sad was because Yukasa had only been at this training compound with his dad for a little over 4 weeks and to see muscle improvement like that must mean he was working really hard.

The compound in question was the old Genkai compound about 2 hours south of Yukasa's hometown. It was owned by Yusuke's old mentor Genkai, and when she died the property was put into the care of Yusuke and his friends. The property itself was fairly expansive with over 200 acres. The outer wooded area of the compound functioned as a demon sanctuary for any demons living peaceful in human world. The inner most part had five buildings consisting of a large arcade with spirit energy related games, a large fighting chamber that was completely dark, two separate Dojos, and a larger house with living arrangements. Bayton wondered how many times Yukasa had even seen the big house.

"How have you been?" she asked hesitantly.

"Exhausted," he said not looking up from the floor.

"That bad huh?"

"It's like torture, but apparently I'm getting something out of it."

Bayton looked over Yukasa muscles and smiled, "You are getting something out of it. I mean you might not be able to tell but I can. Plus, it can't be that bad!"

"He was shooting at me and he managed to hit me so he made me run four miles!"

"You can run four miles?

"I can now," he said still looking at his feet.

"You alright?" she asked. "You haven't moved very much."

"Oh that's the spirit cuffs," he responded.

"Whoa, aren't those the things that make it so you can't move unless you're fully exerting your spirit energy?"

"Yup!" Yukasa said rolling over.

"When did you get those on?"

"About the first minute I got here," Yukasa answered.

"You ran 4 miles in spirit cuffs!" Bayton said in disbelief.

"I can now," he answered.

"WOO!"

Bayton looked over at the source of the woo. In the middle of the main room was Yusuke bouncing up and down and wearing grey sweatpants and a T-shirt that read 'Makia Tournament 2002'.

"Come on son!" he screamed as he ran over. "It's time to go for a run!"

"Didn't we just go for a run, dad?" Yukasa asked.

"Yeah, but today's spirit cardio!" his father said with a smile.

"Wasn't yesterday spirit cardio?"

"Every day is spirit cardio! As long as you can keep on swinging you're eventually gonna win the fight!"

"Didn't you die twice!"

Yusuke let out a sigh of exasperation, bent over, and began speaking quietly to his son, "Now Yukasa I know you're tired, but-"

"This is the part where you tell me if I don't do this I'm going to have to balance on the spikes again isn't it," Yukasa said the sadness evident in his voice.

Yusuke ruffled Yukasa's hair.

"My son is so freaking smart," he said with a smile.

Bayton could feel Yukasa exerting his spirit energy, and saw the golden glow of the spirit cuffs around his wrists and ankles. He struggled to pull them apart, but Bayton could see that he was going to win. She was actually incredibly impressed with her Spirit Detective's progress only four weeks ago his energy had been so minuscule she could only feel its presence if she hugged him, but now she could see the bright blue energy erupting from his body and she could feel it every strong from five feet away. It was still a long way away from the whole 'you can see it from the next town over' thing his father could do, but it was certainly some intense progress. Finally, Yukasa stood up. Bayton stood up with him and smiled.

"Before you guys go do whatever the hell you're going to do; I have a message from Konema," Bayton said as she walked out of the house. "He wants you two to stop going into spirit world for your training. He's picked up blips from you on spirit world radar. He understands you guys can probably handle yourselves, but he doesn't want anyone else getting lost."

Both Yukasa and his father did the same movement of raising both eyebrows in surprise. Bayton thought it was cute but didn't understand why they would be surprised at all.

"Bayton," Yusuke said. "We haven't let this compound in four weeks."

"Ok that's weird," she said. "I'll tell Konema." Bayton took out her phone and started typing a message.

"Don't bother!" Yusuke said. Bayton looked up and saw that Yusuke had a devilish grin on his face.

"Why not?" Bayton asked.

"Well, he's probably not going to believe you anyway, and this is a perfect first case!"

"Huh!" Yukasa said. "Can you do that?"

"I know I can take your spirit cuff off while you're on the case," Yusuke said.

Yukasa ran up to his dad holding out his hands.

"Anything you say dad!"

"HA! Nice try, go pack some food and water for the trip!"

Yukasa ran off inside the house.

Bayton looked over Yusuke trying to see if he was serious or if this is some sort of joke.

"You do realize that your sending your son and I to do exactly what Koenma warned us not to do, right?"

"You think I haven't told Konema to fuck off in more colorful ways before?"

Bayton smiled. Yusuke was notorious for his problem with authority and so was Bayton. She had been hoping that Yukasa would have inherited that trait too, but instead he'd gotten a good head on his shoulders.

"You still exiled from the upper levels of spirit world?" Yusuke asked.

"Yeah they don't take the sin of pride lightly up there," Bayton said desperate for the topic to change. "It's actually why I got to babysit your son, they needed someone who could give 24/7 watch."

"Good things grow out of a lot of shit after all," Yusuke said and then he started laughing.

"I guess you and I are the prime examples of that?" Bayton asked.

"But for some reason spirit world actually made the right call," Yusuke said looking up into the sky.

"Yeah well I'm not the biggest fan of spirit world judgment," Bayton confessed.

"Neither am I that's why I went to demon world!"

"Was it better there?" Bayton asked wondering why Yukasa's father was leading her down this road.

"Nah it was shit there too," Yusuke said then he suddenly became very serious. His entire expression hardened and he looked Bayton directly in the eye. "But I learned there that it doesn't matter where you run you can't run from yourself."

Bayton was surprised at Yusuke's sudden change in demeanor and tone. He'd somehow gone from incredible goofy father to strangely authoritative advice giving father in three seconds flat. Yet both seemed to fit him, the changes didn't seem out of place on his face, but rather that both fit perfectly just not at the same time. He slowly looked away once again up toward the sky and Bayton wondered just how much of her sin Yusuke knew or if she just wore that chip on her shoulder really well.

When Yukasa came out of the house Bayton sighed in relief. He was wearing the same clothes and now had his satchel slung across his shoulder.

"You sure took a while," she said trying to deflect attention. "I was getting worried."

Yukasa gave a mock laugh. "HA! Let's see you try to read ingredients while keeping your spirit energy fully exerted _and_ balancing on top of a step later."

"I could do it in my sleep!" Bayton said.

"I think I might have done it in my sleep before," Yusuke said looking at Bayton with that same devilish grin. Yusuke laughed at his own joke and snapped. The golden glow of the spirit cuffs appeared again, but it suddenly shattered and dissipated.

Yukasa actually jumped for joy. "Oh my god! I can move!"

"Yeah well move over this way so we can get going!" Bayton said as she unbound her sheath from her side and slid her Katana hilt first into it. She felt her energy flood into her katana. Most people didn't know it, but the oar of a reaper is almost part of them it is more than a chunk of wood. The reaper can't necessarily feel it like a limb but they know where it is at all times like a limb. She dropped her katana and it began floating just above the ground. She jumped up and landed on the tip of her sword. She loved the feeling of being weightless and free. There were many things she'd hated about her previous job as a regular reaper, but flying had been the saving grace of it all. Suddenly she felt a pressure on the sheath of her katana.

"So how do you expect me to stay on this thing again?" Yukasa asked.

"I'm going to tell you the same thing my reaper told me," Yusuke said. "Hold on!"

"To what?" Yukasa asked.

Bayton didn't waste her opportunity. She took off toward spirit world Yukasa screaming all the way.


	2. Chapter 2

Episode 2: Entering Tartarus

Yukasa didn't know how, but one minute he and Bayton were flying into a cloud and the next they were in Spirit World. It was hard to tell from the view that this was a different place because everything was covered in clouds. The feel of Spirit World was an entirely different story. Yukasa could feel that he didn't belong here. His skin was clammy and moist, and instantly he felt the need to fidget and move because he was out of place. For some reason he couldn't grasp however, a part of him didn't want to leave. It was a very deep part of him and vastly outweighed by the rest of his body, but there was a part nonetheless that felt like he belonged here. He deduced that that part of him must be the part of him that had died the first time and realized that he actually belonged in Spirit World rather than getting a second chance on earth. Because he'd never done anything to deserve that second chance.

They kept traveling through the Spirit World and occasionally clouds would part and Yukasa would get glimpses of the floors in Spirit World. Some were tall mountain peaks capped with snow, others were deep luscious green valleys, others still were vast yellow plains filled with grain, others were sea shore with calm waves, however not everything he saw was nice and happy for every mountain there was an erupting volcano spilling lava down its face, for every plain filled with grain there was one that was in the midst of a dust storm, for every sea shore there was a despicable looking crags that seemed to scream as the harsh waves collided with the sides, and the worst thing he saw was the inverse of the plentiful valleys it was a deep valley filled with nothing but white moving wisps which Yukasa assumed to be souls. Yukasa looked away trying not to wonder what kind of things you needed to do to end up with a permanent cause for claustrophobia. He put his hand over his mouth and waited for the clouds to cover up the valley when Bayton started talking.

"You like the real-estate around here?" she asked in a tone that made it clear she didn't like the real-estate either.

"It's…uh pretty diverse," Yukasa answered.

Bayton laughed and Yukasa smiled at his friends' boisterous laughter.

"Yeah well Spirit World is divided into different layers of existence, if you were a soul the entire place would look like the place you were being sentenced," she said.

"Sounds cheery."

Bayton got quiet for a second, and Yukasa could feel the katana slow down. She pointed up and over to the left and asked Yukasa what he saw.

At first it was just clouds like the rest of Spirit World then for a few seconds they parted and Yukasa could see it. It had a thirty-foot-high tower in the center, that was purple with a gold symbol on the top that and a golden roof that looked to be some archaic Japanese Kanji that Yukasa had never seen, the walls on either side of the tower extended past the edges of the clouds and followed the same color scheme.

"It looks like a fortress of some kind," Yukasa said.

"It is, that's the uppermost section of Spirit World. It houses the rest of the reapers, some ogre helpers, Prince Koenma, and his father King Yama," Bayton said the sadness unmistakable in her voice.

"Is that the part you're from?"

"Yeah, I was born there. I hope you don't have to go in there to get your missions ever, because the reapers in there are assholes."

"I'll try to avoid it," Yukasa said wondering how he was supposed to treat this situation when he literally knew nothing about why his friend was feeling the way she did. "Do you ever go back and visit?"

Bayton laughed again, but this time it wasn't her actual laughter but a short sarcastic one that, to Yukasa at least, held a lot of pain.

"No," The katana picked back up in speed and Yukasa gripped it tighter. He was guessing that was a way to punctuate a conversation.

A few more minutes passed and finally the katana began to descend.

"Are we getting close to our destination?" Yukasa asked.

"Yeah," Bayton said her mind clearly somewhere else.

Soon they passed through a cloud cover and the feeling Yukasa had shifted, into that similar pounding of his heart as he could now see their destination. In the center of what looked like a desert was a massive crater the size of Yukasa's own city. The opening while wide was filled with dark storm clouds that occasionally would light up with flashes of lighting. The worst part however was the smell, the entire place reeked of sulfur and rotten meat, and Yukasa had to use most of his strength to keep from vomiting at the smell.

"That's Tartarus," Bayton said her mind still distracted. "It's the lowest level of existence in Spirit World. It houses most of the tortures, along with some nasty spirits, and the Dragonskin trees."

The katana continued to descend toward Tartarus, and even seemed to be picking up speed.

"Bayton?" Yukasa called.

His friend didn't answer. They were about to enter into the cloud cover soon and Yukasa was worried they'd get hit with lighting. He gripped the katana harder and called out again, but still his friend didn't answer. Their descent sped up moving into the cloud cover. The sounds of thunder filled Yukasa's ears and it became hard for him to see around him, and yet he didn't get wet. Yukasa was content with just staying on the katana until they reached their destination when he felt heat erupt from under him. He looked down, but didn't see anything. The heat grew stronger as they descended, but way too fast for it to just be the radiant heat from Tartarus. He only felt it for a few seconds and he already was breaking out in a sweat. Yukasa didn't see much of it just a large a black beast began coming for them from below. Yukasa leapt toward Bayton knocking them both off the katana just as he saw a tower of black flame engulf the sword. Then he was falling into the blackness of Tartarus.


	3. My Very Own Mummy

Chapter 3: My very own Mummy.

Yukasa awoke and the first thing that happened was the smell hit him. The sulfur here was incredibly strong but the rotting meat smell was gone, or at least the sulfur covered it up. The second thing that he saw was the mummy looking down at him. A person wrapped entirely in bandages except for their eyes. It wasn't shriveled up and gross like the pictures of mummies Yukasa had seen, but a 'fresh' mummy. If that was a thing. It had large crimson eyes that just looked at Yukasa occasionally blinking, but not much else.

"Are you gonna say anything?" Yukasa asked it.

It nodded no.

"Can you say anything?" he asked again.

It nodded no.

"Can you understand me?"

It nodded yes.

"So, I guess its yes or no questions for a while."

Yukasa looked around. He was in some sort of ravine, but the sides while being steep seemed smooth and glistened with moisture in the waning light. It also didn't look like any rock he'd ever seen. They were all pinkish at the base and crimson red at the top, like blood had been dripped on every stone. It was hot here too, at least over 90 and the occasional steam coming out of the ground didn't help.

"Where am I?" Yukasa asked to no one in particular. The Mummy above him glared at him slightly.

"Sorry that wasn't really too you."

Yukasa sat up, and looked forward. He couldn't see very far ahead of him because it was obscured by the steam. He did see pocky sticks from his satchel all over the ravine, along with some just-add-hot-water-ramen his dad had made. His satchel was actually what was being used as his pillow. All the things that had been in it when the Mummy had found him were next to the Mummy, or at least that's what it looked like since they were all stacked nicely and neatly close to it.

"Did you help me in some way?" Yukasa asked the Mummy.

It nodded yes.

"Well thank you," he said. Then suddenly he wondered if the reason Bayton wasn't with him was because she had been too far gone to save.

"Shit! Have you seen my friend?"

It looked like it was struggling to figure out which way to nod.

"Is she dead?" Yukasa asked his heart on the verge of an entirely separate ravine.

It shrugged.

"What do you mean!" he screamed. The Mummy didn't even flinch. Yukasa took a deep breath to calm down. He went over the responses he had gotten and tried to figure out what the Mummy meant.

"You must have seen us fall," Yukasa reasoned.

It nodded a very enthusiastic yes.

"But I was the one nearest to you so you helped me."

It nodded no.

"What? Why would you not help both of us?" Yukasa asked. He looked over his bandaged friend and he remembered what Bayton had said that Tartarus housed most of the tortures in Spirit World.

"You didn't help her because she was a reaper."

It nodded slowly yes.

"Okay, but I promise you she's not like the reapers here. Do you know where she is?"

It nodded slowly yes.

"Look I don't know what your deal is, but I swear I don't care. My friend and I are just here to do a little investigating of something totally unrelated to you, if you could lead me to her I'd be out of your… bandages soon," he said. Yukasa put on his most convincing smile, but before he could even make a second plea the Mummy got up. Yukasa noticed that it was wearing black pants and thin black flats that were unscathed. He wondered how a soul on the run had managed to get perfectly good pants and shoes. It tilted its head to the side in a confused way, so Yukasa stood up. He packed his things in his satchel and looked around again. Only a few feet away from him on three sides was an incredibly tall and steep wall, he'd been in a dead end. The Mummy started walking the only way out of the dead end and Yukasa followed.

A few minutes of walking and Yukasa was beginning to feel his sore bones and joints he'd acquired during his fall. Every time he stepped on his left foot his right hip had a thing or two to say about it, and his neck would love to join in occasionally. Yukasa was willing to endure it and he was happy he hadn't broken anything. He looked up to gauge how far he'd fallen and he couldn't really tell where the cloud line ended. It was constantly moving like it was being blown around by some intense winds, so he could have fallen anywhere from two stories to twelve. Suddenly he bumped into the back of the Mummy, it had stopped.

"Sorry I was a little distracted," he apologized. He walked around and saw that the Mummy was pointing down at a spot.

"Last time you saw her she was there?" Yukasa asked.

It nodded yes.

He looked around. There didn't seem to be any blood, but it was hard to tell with all of the red stone.

"The ravine is too narrow for her to have crossed our paths and us not seen her, so she must have gone forward for some reason," he said to the Mummy. "Well, thank you. You did awesome."

He raised his fist for a fist bump, and the Mummy caught it and brought a killer left hook to his face. Yukasa screamed in surprise, and when he looked up the mummy had its hands over where its mouth should have been.

 _-They must not know what a fist bump is and thought I was trying to hit them, -_ He reasoned. He didn't get a chance to explain the strange bro maneuver that was the fist-bump because Bayton jumped out of the sky.

She slashed downward barely missing the Mummy, and landing in between the Mummy and Yukasa. The Mummy brought up her hands like she was going to start boxing, and then jumped back a few feet. Bayton slashed again arcing it toward the Mummy's head, but the mummy dodged under the blade and landed a punch in Bayton's side. Bayton retaliated by switching the blade in her hand and stabbing backward at the Mummy but it was too fast. The Mummy had swept to the side and had gotten about three feet away from Bayton. It punched with its left hand and black flames erupted from its fist. Bayton side stepped the fire and attacked again this time aiming for the torso of the Mummy. It jumped back again and punched with its right hand and ice formed at Bayton's feet.

Yukasa saw what was coming and took aim. As the Mummy stepped back toward Bayton about to deliver a nearly fatal blow to her head Yukasa fired his Spirit Gun. It smashed into the wall right between the two and they looked at him.

"Everyone calm down!" he screamed. They were still looking at him. "Bayton! The Mummy is my friend!"

"I was up on that ledge," she said. She looked up to show where the ledge was, it was obscured by steam though so Yukasa didn't actually see it. "I look down here and I see you and bandage face demon here and next thing I hear you're screaming in pain.

"I don't think it-"

"Did you just call them an it?" Bayton said.

"I don't know it's gender," Yukasa said defensively.

"Then call them 'they'! 'It' is offensive!"

"Since when did you get involved in the LGBTQ equality thing?" Yukasa asked sarcastically.

"Since I'm the fucking L!"

Suddenly a thunderous deep roar ripped through the ravine.

"What the hell was that?" Yukasa asked.

"It's a dragon," Bayton said her voice suddenly scared. "We must have attracted it here with our energies." The Mummy punched at Bayton's feet again with their right hand and the ice broke at her feet. Bayton took off toward the dead end.

"Dead end!" Yukasa called. Bayton turned around and ran back.

"Do you think we can climb these walls?" she asked.

"I don't know, and I don't think even if we could manage to climb it that we could do it fast enough."

"Get behind me." The voice was feminine, strong, and deep, and it came from the Mummy.

"You can talk?" Yukasa asked.

"Get behind me," she said again.

Yukasa looked over and saw that she was taking off her bandages. With every layer that came off he could feel her energy growing.

"Containment bandages," Bayton said in a wispy voice.

When she removed the final bandages from her torso Yukasa's stomach tied in knots the energy was so intense, when she removed the final layer from her right arm the temperature in the ravine grew cold, when she removed the last ones from her left arm dark flames burst out, and when she removed them from her head long black hair cascaded down to her shoulders.

Another roar ripped through the ravine this one louder and much closer. Yukasa ran back behind what used to be the mummy and Bayton followed. Yukasa looked past what used to be the Mummy to see the head of a large black flame dragon (yes a dragon that was literally MADE of flames) coming towards them. The Mummy raised her hand and brought it down in an arc in front of her. A massive beam of light divided the ravine and Yukasa blinked because what he saw on one side of the line was a few inches off from the other like she had actually cut through his own vision. The beast collided with the line and roared in pain and ravaged against it while flames and raw power were coming off of the collision. Finally, the monster's head was cut in half and the rest of the dragon spilt in two. The line shown beautifully in the darkness and there was a hum imitating from it in the silence. The Mummy collapsed.

"Shit!" Bayton screamed and she ran over to the mummy and dark blue lines came from her hands and began dancing over the Mummy.

"Bayton what are you doing?" Yukasa cried out.

"I'm healing her," Bayton said. "If she dies, we are so fucked!"

The eyes of what used to be the Mummy snapped open, and Bayton jumped back in surprise.

"Thank you for trying to heal me, but I am quite alright. Using the third dimensional cut just takes a lot of concentration and power thus after using it I pass out briefly," The Mummy said completely emotionlessly.

"Oh good, you're okay," Bayton said. "And just when were you going to tell us who you were?" she asked angrily.

"You know who I am?" The Mummy asked.

"It's not hard to find out. Ice, fire, _and_ the 3rd Dimensional cut!"

"Hey!" Yukasa screamed. He was not following this at all and was starting to get annoyed. It was mostly at himself for not knowing what was apparently so obvious to Bayton.

Bayton looked at the Mummy, "You want to tell him who you are?"

"I'm Mokuro Tasenage," she said.

"That's cute, but rather unhelpful!" Bayton looked up at Yukasa. "This is Mokuro Tasenga, the princess of Demon World."


	4. Best Laid Plans

Chapter 4: The Best Laid Plans…

"So let me get this straight." Yukasa said after having listened to Mokuro and Bayton's stories. He looked toward Bayton first.

"You woke up, tried to make a call, and figured out you didn't have service. So you went to find your oar. Instead you found a pile of ashes and your sword completely unharmed, and you have no idea why that sword is ok?"

"Yup," Bayton replied.

"And you," Yukasa said looked toward Mokuro. "You were brought here by your aid to… tag dragons for your dad because he apparently fights _using_ them. When the aid tried to rape you… hit him so hard his head came off." Mokuro nodded.

Yukasa sat down and thought over everything, and he realized he needed to change the focus of his mission to Tartarus. He looked at Bayton.

"New plan, get Mokuro out of here, because I'm assuming if she dies here there's going to be a lot of pissed off politicians."

"Yes," Mokuro said with a hint of happiness in her voice. "My father loves me very much."

"The only question is," Bayton said with no hint of happiness in her voice. "How the hell do we manage to do that? I don't have an oar anymore, and every oar is bound to its reaper so we can't borrow one. Forget trying to climb out of Tartarus that's kind of like trying to climb up Mount Fuji while it's erupting."

Yukasa interlaced his fingers together and began thinking. He didn't know a lot about Tartarus except what he could see and what Bayton had told him before they fell in. What he saw was a bunch of steam, cliffs, and that dimensional cut.

Bayton said that this place housed: tortures, nasty spirits, and the Dragonskin trees. The second one he had already encountered and the first he _never_ wanted to encounter, but the third sounded familiar.

"Where have I heard of the Dragonskin trees before Bayton?" he asked.

Bayton's eyes grew wide and she said, "They are what reapers make their oars out of, but the only thing strong enough to cut it…" Yukasa picked up her Katana and smiled.

"Exactly," he said a smile appearing on his lips. "So if we were to get you to a tree could you cut off a big branch and fly us back?"

Bayton ran her fingers through her blue ponytail thinking.

"Yeah," she said. "It'd be one hell of a bumpy ride, but I think I could at least get us to the main fortress of spirit world."

"Alright!" Yukasa said with pride. "So we know how to get out, but do we know where the nearest Dragonskin tree is?"

"And there's your problem," Bayton said. "They are hidden because that stuff is the pride of the spirit world defensive forces, and they don't just want to give it away to anybody."

"So what would be the easiest way to find it?"

Bayton played with her pony tail more, but this time there didn't seem to be many answers forthcoming.

"I think I might know," Mokuro said.

"Well please hold us in suspense forever!" Bayton said.

Mokuro raised one eye brow in confusion.

"What? Why?" she asked.

"Bayton's just being sarcastic," Yukasa offered.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Man you really need to get out of the castle more," Bayton answered with much sass forthcoming.

Yukasa shot her a glare and received one in return. He sighed and said, "It's when someone says the opposite of what they mean to try and be funny."

"Oh," Mokuro said meekly. "As I was saying, there is a torture down here and I have been eating a few souls from there in order to stay fed-"

"You eat souls?!" Yukasa screamed in surprise.

"Yeah she does," Bayton said like he'd just asked if the sky was blue. "It was only about 20 years ago that it stopped being a delicacy."

Yukasa swallowed hard and made a mental note not to be around Mokuro when she was hungry.

"Anyway," Bayton said. "You were saying?"

"Essentially since you are a reaper you could go over to those reapers and explain your situation-"

"That's a no go. The reapers and I aren't on good terms. I think they'd kill me before I even finished my name." Yukasa looked over his friend and wondered why her fellow reapers hated her so much, and he was beginning to wonder if the reason she never visited the fortress in spirit world was because she wasn't allowed to.

"Okay well how about I go? I'm a spirit detective," Yukasa offered.

"Yeah," Bayton said her mind drifting again. "That might work. They might even call into spirit world to get us a ride home instead."

"I think that we should head out in the morning though," Mokuro said.

Yukasa looked up at the sky, it looked the same as when he'd come in.

"It's night where I am from," she supplied.

"Alright," Yukasa said. "Well I'm not totally tired yet, so you sleep now and I'll take first watch."

"Thank you," Mokuro said as she laid down.

"Your wel-" he was interrupted by a small snore coming from Mokuro.

"Wow, I've never seen that," he said, but when he looked over at Bayton he realized that she probably hadn't heard him. She was staring at the ground running her fingers through her ponytail very slowly and methodically.

"Bayton," he said. Still no answer, so he reached out and touched her hand. She slapped it away instinctually.

"Oh shit! I'm sorry!" she said.

"It's fine," Yukasa said rubbing his hand. "I just wanted to know what you were thinking about."

She dodged his eyes and looked down at the ground again.

"Bayton come on," he said. "You're my best friend. No secrets between us right?"

Bayton looked up at him and smiled. "You know I told you that so you'd tell me if you developed spirit powers right?"

"Yeah, but I'm going to use it anyway for the sake of my argument."

She gave a loud boisterous laugh.

"Ok fine," she looked up toward the sky as she spoke. "The reason I never visit the fortress of spirit world is that I was exiled from there."

"Why?" he asked, knowing the answer would be bigotry and hate.

"Oh well, I committed the Sin of Pride."

"Like gay pride?" Yukasa asked.

Bayton pulled her gaze from the sky and looked at Yukasa questioningly.

"What?"

"It wasn't because you were gay?"

"What no! They don't give a shit about that! I defied spirit world judgment."

"Ohhhh," Yukasa said acting like he knew what the hell that meant.

"Yeah usually it would just have been the sin of violence or something like that, but…" her voice trailed off and Yukasa could see a tear running down her cheek.

"But what?" he asked hoping he wasn't pressing too hard.

"When they asked me if I was sorry I did it I said no, so it became the Sin of Pride."

"Wait, then why are you crying?" he asked now knowing full well that he was pressing too hard, but his curiosity wouldn't let him leave it be.

"Because there is a difference in being sorry you did something and regretting you had to do it."

Bayton's tears were streaming down the sides of her face. "I didn't want to kill her Yukasa. I didn't."

It was a long night following that. Bayton had gone to sleep soon after she told him, but hadn't said another word on her exile or why she'd had to kill that woman, whoever that was. As Yukasa looked at her sleeping on the ground he was happy to see how peaceful she was. He made up his mind that he wasn't going to bring up the subject again unless it became really relevant or she wanted to talk about it. It wasn't often that he saw Bayton cry. In fact, the only other time he could remember was four weeks ago when he'd tried to basically commit suicide by walking out onto a pack of demons. It didn't look good on her, she was a strong person. Then again he thought of himself a strong person and when his mother almost died if he didn't need to kill a demon right then he would have been bawling.

He ran his fingers through his hair and shook it. He didn't want to think about his mother's near death experience any more than he wanted to think of his actual death experience. He shuddered as the sensation of total pain and absolute uselessness passed through him as the memory of his encounter with Shura went through his mind. He began to breathe heavily, but when the bullet didn't cut through his brain he calmed down a little. If he could stop living though that over and over again without warning that would be great. His dad had told him that that sensation and feeling could help him by letting him know when it was time to run but as Yukasa's eyes slowly shut he wondered how he could run from himself.

Yukasa looked at his watch, six minutes had passed since he'd walked over the ledge into the Trenches.

 _-Nine more minutes, -_ he thought.

" _How long would it take to contact the central forces in spirit world about me?" he'd asked._

 _"No longer than 5 minutes," Bayton said. "They more than likely have a radio tower to use for communications and those radios are manned at all times in spirit world. So instant connect, four minutes for bureaucracy, and one minute for actual conversation."_

 _"Ok so five minutes for them to get to talk to me, five for the call, and five for me to leave. If I'm not out in 15 come, get me."_

The torture itself was terrifically designed in all meanings of that word. When he had crossed the ledge he'd been instantly overcome with a feeling of terror and dread. He was looking out into a war scene from World War 1. He saw the yellow mustard gas rising from the trenches and the men running out into the field to be slaughtered with machine gun fire. He could see the absolute pain and loathing in the faces of the men as they died. In life, war was fought for principles, or at least that's what soldiers were told, but here in the Trenches the death toll was merely a number and they fought for that number alone. "War is hell" was a rather ironic at that moment. A few seconds after he crossed over the ledge a Reaper dressed in an officer's uniform had descended next to him and questioned him, but after he said his name was Yukasa Urameshi and he was a spirit detective he was taken to the building at the end of the Trenches.

It was a tall canary yellow building in a British style, with large windows and double entrance doors. He'd been brought to a back room that looked like a cafeteria. He was told to sit at the table in the back facing the wall and to wait for someone to come and get him. There was something off about the room that at first he wasn't able to put his finger on.

After sitting for seven minutes he figured it out. There was only one door in and out of this place, and it only had two tables. These were small fold out tables that sat maybe 5 each. He'd seen at least fifteen reapers on his way in and assuming there were even a few more manning the torture these tables would be way too small for them for to have lunch even a few at a time. This room wasn't designed to be a cafeteria but had been changed around to look like that. The question was why?

At minute eight several reapers walked into the room. Some were carrying food and they sat down at the other table, two other guys entered right behind them, one of those was the one who had told him to wait in here, and some really peppy guy entered last and sat across from Yukasa.

"Whoa man I just heard from someone that you're a real life spirit detective! How's that gig?"

This guy was a good actor. If the other people around him weren't terrible Yukasa might have actually believed him. Everyone else in the room on the other hand was obviously listening in. They were extremely quiet and kept passing glances over to him. Before he answered Yukasa counted all the people in the room and their locations. There were five at the table next to him, one leaning in a corner behind him, one leaning on the wall next to the door, and of course , so eight altogether. Yukasa could tell he was in trouble. These guys were waiting for the moment to pounce. But why? The Dragonskin tree wasn't that that important was it?

"Yeah it's a pretty great job," he said pleasantly. "Came down here to investigate weird energy signatures and now my reaper and I need to get to a Dragonskin tree to get a new oar." He needed to get out of here, but with eight reapers in the room he didn't have a chance if he ran.

"Oh rough," replied. "Yeah the tree around here is pretty secure it's got a crazy powerful guardian. But as long as you're actually looking for a Dragonskin tree like you say, you should be all right."

That was a very thinly veiled threat. They didn't think that he was really here for the Dragonskin tree. He was a detective seemingly stranded at the worst possible place in the universe to be stranded It sounded strange to him too. He knew it was the truth though, these reapers must have thought that his story about needing the information about the Dragonskin tree was a front to do some investigating. So these reapers were involved in something that they shouldn't be. Or maybe they were trying to cover their asses and hide the fact that they were missing some souls. Mokuro had told Yukasa she'd eaten a few souls after all and she hadn't bought them. Just his luck to stumble into the one torture that's got something to hide and people who might be willing to kill to keep it hidden.

He reasoned that either the only reapers involved were the ones in the room with him which meant if he got out of this room alive he'd hopefully stay that way, or every reaper in the Trenches was involved in the scandal which meant there were more wanting to kill him outside the door so there was no way out of here alive.


	5. Often Go Awry

Chapter 5: …Often go Awry

He needed to find out who the leader was in this room. If he could get to the leader before the reapers could get to him he might be able to survive this ordeal.

" _I can't tell you how many fights I would have avoided if I had just taken down the leader first. A lot of people just think you're the lesser threat to them. Prove to them you're not and you might end up with allies rather than enemies. Or at least people who don't want to kill you."_

-Thanks dad, - Yukasa thought. –But how exactly do I spot the leader? -

"Oh," Yukasa said feigning interest. "Big reaper?"

smiled slightly. "Nah, big demon with big muscles. Scary dude."

Yukasa tried to scan the room without looking too obvious. Everyone he could see in the room was trying to make it look like they weren't watching this conversation intently. Maybe that meant that was the leader? Would the leader put himself at that much risk?

"Oh," Yukasa answered. "So he is a big guy?"

Yukasa couldn't really tell how much of 's story was bull or not, but he figured if it was even slightly true he should press this guy for information.

"Hey," Yukasa continued. "You know you seem really helpful maybe you could help me with some information.

All the eyes in the room gave a quick worried looked at Yukasa, except the guy in the corner who'd looked forward.

-No, - Yukasa thought. – They weren't looking at me; they were looking at the guy behind me for the attack order. He's the leader. -

"With what?" Charmer said his voice suddenly tense.

"Well maybe you could give me some directions to the tree. I've never been here before you know."

"Uh," Charmer said with surprise. "There's a path, in between us and the next torture, if you just follow that up you should get to it pretty fast." It took him just long enough to give the answer that it was either the truth or a prepared lie.

The guy in behind Yukasa did some kind of movement and the people in the room tensed and placed all their food and utensils on the table. They were about to move so Yukasa moved first. He flipped the table over onto Charmer, and turned around planting his finger right at the heart of the leader. The reapers in the room got out of their seats, but stopped when they saw that Yukasa had planted his

"If you want to live I suggest tell your men to _back off_ ," Yukasa said. The leader was a man only a little taller than Yukasa with dirty blonde hair and a malicious mouth.

"Yeah right kid," he said the malicious mouth dripping with sarcastic venom. "You probably couldn't even shoot through my armor."

Yukasa looked over the armor, it was tough black armor that covered most of his body like it was a full-fledged version of Bayton's, so the guy was probably right. Yukasa was already devoted to this plan though and really needed not to die, so he decided to bluff.

"I'm the son of Yusuke Urameshi, do you really want to take that chance?" There was a brief silence in the room.

Then the leader started waving his hands at his men. "Back up, everyone, just back up!"

Yukasa smiled. He grabbed the shoulder of the Leader, pulled him off the wall, and then swept behind the Leader putting his finger up to the man's head.

"Alright," Yukasa said. "Guy by the door, open it if you don't mind."

The man hesitated.

"Yeah you're right," Yukasa said. "Best if I kill you easier that way right?"

The guy hurriedly opened the door.

"Now go join your friends."

He walked over to the table to join his friends. Yukasa grabbed the shoulder of the Leader and walked over to the door, making sure to never have his back to anyone in the room. Once he reached it he said, "Well been great playing this game with you, but I really need to get going so…" He kicked the leader in the room, slipped out the door, and slammed it shut. He took off taking a left out of the door instead of going down the hall he'd come in, and he was glad he did. Energy blasts burst forth from the door and the reapers were hot on his tail.

Bayton looked down at her phone, still no signal. The fifteen-minute timer was down to less than a minute.

"When we breach do you want us to separate?" Mokuro asked.

Bayton turned her head and realized Mokuro was reading over her shoulder. Their lips were about 19 inches apart. Bayton liked the way Mokuro's red eyes complimented with her black hair, and Bayton couldn't help but imagining Mokuro's lips painted the same deep red as her eyes.

"Together," she answered. "No need to wipe the whole place out we just need too-"

Bayton was cut off by the sound of screaming, which wasn't unusual next to a torture, but the scream was familiar to her.

"What is it?" Mokuro asked getting wonderfully close to Bayton. Bayton could smell her scent, and though it definitely had a B.O. hint to it was an unmistakably female, and for Bayton at this moment that's all it needed to be.

"It's a scream," she said turning away from the girl. Now was not the time to get pulled into a love affair with a nineteen-year-old. Especially a nineteen-year-old princess, whose dad was Hiei.

Bayton listened for the scream again it was familiar in tone and pitch.

"It's Yukasa," she said to Mokuro. The scream grew louder. "And he's getting closer…"

"Shouldn't we go help him?" Mokuro said eagerly.

Bayton was just about to agree when she made out what Yukasa was saying.

"runrunruNRUNRUNRUNRUN!"

Yukasa jumped over the ledge and started barreling down the ravine. Bayton looked to Mokuro for confirmation that it'd had really just happened, but she was already running and catching up to Yukasa. With nothing left to do and her friend getting some serious distance on her (great training) she took off after him too.

A few seconds later seven reapers jumped over the ledge and began chasing her, though she assumed they had originally started chasing Yukasa.

"What did you do?!" she screamed.

"Long story!"

Bayton looked up ahead and could see the ravine was narrowing and that Yukasa was slowing down. They needed to stop those reapers now, because they didn't seem like they were in the mood to talk things out.

"Anyone got a plan to stop them?" Bayton called.

"I could cut them!" Mokuro said.

"No!" Yukasa screamed. "No mass murder."

 _-I could live with it,_ \- Bayton thought.

"Well how about ice then?" Mokuro asked.

"Will that kill them?"

"Probably not."

Yukasa stopped suddenly then turned around panting heavily.

"I can live with probably," he said.

Bayton and Mokuro stopped. A small blue-white light burst to life in Mokuro's hand, and a blue tint began making its way up her arm. When she looked closer Bayton realized that it was a thin layer of ice. The reapers were closing in they were only about 15 feet away now. Mokuro thrust her hand out in front of her and an ice storm emerged from her hand as the blue-white light burst. The reapers were frozen solid with ice hanging off their extremities and snow at their feet. Mokuro turned to smile at Yukasa. Bayton watched the line and saw an eighth reaper jump over his companions. He was swinging a sword down onto Mokuro. Bayton dashed over to her and deflected the attack with ease.

-Another strong guy who thinks he can make up in power what he lacks in actual skill, - she scoffed in her mind.

He brought down the sword again another straight down swing. Bayton dodged the blade and brought her sword up and slashed his wrists. He screamed and dropped his sword. She brought her blade up to his neck.

He glared at her maliciously. He had dirty blonde hair and small eyes, but they soon widened with recognition.

"You're Bayton Tsunemori," he said with more fear then he probably meant to reveal.

"A pleasure I'm sure," she said feeling the edges of her mouth curve in a smile.

Yukasa jogged over to them.

"Is the Dragonskin tree really down that path in between this torture and the next?" he asked.

"Do you expect me to actually believe you're interested in that tree rather than the-"

Bayton repositioned her blade.

"I'm sorry," she said. "You clearly didn't hear the question! Ask it again Yukasa."

"Is the Dragonskin tree where I was told it was?"

"Yes," he said with reluctance in his voice. "Yes it is."

Bayton watched as Mokuro's hand touched the man just below where she was holding the blade to his throat. The ice layer on her arm was transferred to him, and within a few seconds he was frozen solid. Bayton watched her as the ice left Mokuro's arm and she couldn't help but notice that the arm itself was fine and muscular. That the chest it was attached to was bound, but obviously ample.

"Bayton?" she asked a few seconds after the Ice had stopped.

"Sorry," Bayton said snapping her eyes to Mokuro's and trying so desperately to keep her eyes there.

"Anyway," Yukasa said leaning into the girls. "We should get moving before these guys thaw. Do you know where this torture ends Mokuro?"

She nodded and began walking. And Bayton loved watching her walk away.

-Stop it! - she thought to herself. –Why the hell are you so interested in her anyway? -

Then Bayton saw Mokuro look at Yukasa and smile for no apparent reason at all and two things became very clear: Mokuro was straight, and why Bayton was so interested.

\- Always wanting what you can't have… Just like last time. -


	6. Old Enemies

Chapter 6: Old Enemies

The path between the tortures is where things started getting weird. As if Tartarus wasn't weird already. The torture on the other side of the Trenches in some way resembled a beach, but remembering that he was in Tartarus Yukasa decided not to notice anything beyond the sand, black water, and partially drowned screams of terror. In between the tortures there was a path, but it wasn't hidden in any way. The path was lined with cherry blossom trees that hung over the path making it look like a tunnel, and when Yukasa stepped into it he instantly became aware that the smell of rotting meat and sulfur was gone completely replaced by the scent of cherries.

"Wow," he said. "I would've pegged this as the path for the Dragonskin tree even if I didn't know where it was."

"Yeah," Bayton said hesitantly. "It's weird usually these things are actually hidden I swear."

"How long has it been since you've been down here?" Yukasa asked.

"180 years at least," she said. "Yeah I guess maybe things have changed."

They continued their walk and soon the top of the tunnel opened up revealing that they were now walking in a lush green canyon. Yukasa kept looking around. He was halfway wondering if maybe this was an illusion of sorts, and halfway taking in all the scenery. Movement up at the top of a canyon wall caught his eye. He stopped trying to follow the movement with his eyes.

"What's up?" Bayton asked.

He scanned the tops of the canyon walls. Nothing. Of course the cliff was a shear face if someone, or something, was hiding up there Yukasa wouldn't be able to see it clearly.

"I saw something move at the top of the canyon wall," he said.

"It might be those reapers," Bayton said. "If they really are guilty of something like you said they might still think we're investigating."

"Or it could be another beast-like spirit," Mokuro said.

"I've had enough of those for my entire life," Yukasa said as he continued his walk down the path, but he never quite took his eyes off the tops of the canyon walls.

Eventually the canyon opened up into a large clearing. That was when things got really weird. In the center of the clearing there was a white picket fence and within that a small tree. The tree itself was short about five and a half feet tall, dark brown, and was blooming with flowers that seemed to flicker different colored lights like it was burning. It was almost cute, and nothing like Yukasa had expected the Dragonskin tree to look like. The man next to it was an entirely different story. When had said had said scary dude Yukasa was expecting tattoos or something, instead he got a thin well shaven man about seven feet tall in pants, a loose grey tee-shirt, sunglasses, and a green blazer. For some reason though Yukasa was still scared. The man didn't radiate power, but it was something about his attitude or maybe the way he stood, or looked at Yukasa.

He was saying with his stare that life was tough but he was tougher and if anyone thought differently they could try it. The man stood just inside the white picket fence, unmoving. Yukasa gave his satchel to Bayton and slowly approached the fence. Before he got close enough to touch it he stopped.

"Hey," he said. The man didn't respond in any way.

"I'm just a spirit detective," Yukasa continued. "And I need a part of the Dragonskin tree to get back home." The man didn't even look at Yukasa.

Cautiously Yukasa walked to the gate and slowly opened it.

When he stepped inside the boundaries of the fence the man quickly put his hand in front Yukasa's face. It was as big as his head.

"Name, and number," the Man said in a deep and quiet voice.

Yukasa opened his mouth to speak and then quickly shut it again, because he had no idea what this guy was talking about. Suddenly Bayton was behind him pulling out her phone.

"His name is Yukasa Urameshi, he's Spirit Detective number nine, and here are his credentials." She turned her phone screen toward the man. The man didn't move to look at it.

"Urameshi?"

Yukasa watched as the hand slowly coiled into a fist. The man swung with blinding speed and the blow should've sent Yukasa over the fence. Just as he was about to go sailing he smacked into a wall he didn't know was there. He fell to the ground, and as he attempted to sit up a flare of energy knocked him back up against the wall. It wasn't even an attack that knocked him back. The Man was exerting his bright purple energy, and the force had been strong enough to knock Bayton into the wall too.

Yukasa raised his hand and fired his spirit gun. The blast was about as large as a soccer ball. The Man grabbed it with one hand, but suddenly put a second hand on it.

 _-If you have more than five bullets left keep shooting, most of the time you'll only need like two and spreading them out will only prolong the fight. –_ Yukasa remembered his dad saying.

Yukasa fired again aiming at the Man's forehead with a smaller sharper bullet. Just as the first bullet vanished the second bullet connected with the man's head and Yukasa saw it go out the other side. The man collapsed on the ground.

Yukasa stood up and walked over to help up Bayton.

"Nice shot!" she said.

"Thanks," he said. "Dad showed me a trick to making the bullets act more like bullets than energy blasts."

Yukasa looked over to Mokuro who had run up during the fight, but was still a few feet fencing. He gave her a thumbs up and she smiled.

"Good trick, let's go cut that oar."

They walked toward the tree.

Suddenly Yukasa felt a hand on his ankle and was lifted into the air. The Man was standing there holding him completely unharmed. Now his skin had a greenish tint and his muscles were so big he had his own shoulder pads. He raised his hand to punch Yukasa when Bayton slashed his arm. He screamed and dropped Yukasa. Before he hit the ground Yukasa saw the cut on his arm heal completely. Once on the ground Yukasa felt a familiar sensation, one of dread and fear deep in his gut. The same feeling he'd had when fighting Shura. He was going to die, if he didn't run.

"RUN!" he called out as he let loose another larger bullet into the Man's chest. The man stumbled back for a few steps giving Yukasa and Bayton enough time to run through the gate. He didn't move to follow them, nor did he seem proud of what he was doing. Really his face was blank like this was all predetermined before Yukasa had even showed up.

"Ok," Yukasa said once he and Bayton were sure that they weren't being followed by the man, and had caught his breath. "Three questions."

"Alright," Bayton said still trying to catch her breath.

"One: who the fuck is that guy?"

Mokuro was the one that spoke. "I believe that was younger Toguro. Your father fought and killed him at the last of the old Dark tournaments."

"Awesome!" Yukasa said.

"I think it sucks," Mokuro said.

"That was sarcasm sweetie," Bayton said.

"Oh," Mokuro said meekly.

"Two: What is with that healing thing?"

"That," Mokuro said. "was not one of his living powers. I think it must have been a power granted to him when he became a guardian."

"Fan-fucking-tastic!"

"That was sarcasm!" Mokuro said with a hint of pride.

"Yes it was. Now three: Does anyone have any ideas of how to deal with this?"

There was a silence. Yukasa himself was totally dry on ideas. As it stood there was no way they could beat Toguro. He thought briefly that maybe Toguro's healing powers might be tied to that force field and the tree, but even if it was that didn't do him any good. Toguro was too smart to get out of the range of his healing. He was also too fast for them to be able to distract him and cut a part of the tree off. Mokuro could freeze him, though Yukasa doubted she could after freezing eight reapers, but Toguro would probably be strong enough to get out of it quickly. Not to mention that there was nothing to say that he didn't also have a long ranged attack.

"I've got one, but you're not going to like it," Bayton said.

"Shoot," he said.

"We kill him."

Mokuro looked at Bayton and gasped.

"I'm taking that's a bad thing," Yukasa said.

"It's one of the oldest laws in spirit world. Even with my diplomatic immunity I'm not allowed to kill or eat souls."

"You've already done that though," Yukasa said curiously.

"Yes, well frankly I don't care about the law demons never have. What I was really surprised about was that a reaper would suggest that. They are basically raised to obey that law."

"I've done it before," Bayton said. Her voice was stable and emotionless.

"All you two need to do is hit him with some really powerful attacks at the same time, or at least closed to it. I'll do the rest."

"How powerful?" Mokuro asked.

"Can you do the Dragon of the Darkest Flame technique?"

"With great difficulty yes."

"That powerful."

Mokuro's eyes widened and she nodded.

"Just curious," Yukasa started. "How much trouble will we get in for this?"

"Last time I got exiled from the Fortress of spirit world."

Yukasa felt the tug in his mouth to ask a barrage of questions, but he restrained himself.

"Do we have any other options?" he asked instead.

"Plenty," Bayton said. "Those reapers could kill us, we could get eaten, we're almost out of food, so we could always starve to death-"

"I get it," Yukasa said. "Let's do this."


End file.
